Sanford and Son is an American sitcom television series that ran on the NBC television network from January 14, 1972, to March 25, 1977. She was a dancer, comedian and big-band singer who helped popularize the acrobatic Lindy Hop in the 1930s and 1940s. Fred fears wedding bells will break up his beautiful friendship after Grady announces he's engaged to Dolly, so Fred plots to puncture the romance.Fred fears wedding bells will break up his beautiful friendship after Grady announces he's engaged to Dolly, so Fred plots to puncture the romance.Fred fears wedding bells will break up his beautiful friendship after Grady announces he's engaged to Dolly, so Fred plots to puncture the romance. Back in 2016, Norma was in an interview wherein she shared some tips and secrets for looking as young and beautiful at almost 100 years old. There is a problem with your email/password. TVPG. She was a very cool lady.. You can search individual genealogies from the Advanced Search page by choosing a particular tree from the Trees pop up menu. Died on 10 feb 2002. To get that good, Miller and the other dancers practiced endlessly. She appeared on Toast of the Town with Ed Sullivan after competing in the Harvest Moon Ball in 1938. Foxx also had a short-lived variety show on NBC "The Redd Foxx Show" that wasn't given the credit it was due. GUNN, Sanford Eugene, Dec 18, 1928 - Mar 8, 1929, son of Jack Gunn & Maggie Cox . [1] After the tour, Miller was hospitalized for fatigue until her 18th birthday in December 1937. During her heyday, she was part of a swing dance group named Whiteys Lindy Hoppers. We collect and tell stories of people from all around the world. Early life. One time, heremembers, she even got top billing over The Rolling Stones in one Italian newspaper. In 1937, while on tour in California, she met the Marx Brothers, Allan Jones and Maureen O'Sullivan, and made her film debut in A Day at the Races, a movie by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. They were featured in the Ken Burns PBS special Jazz together. Connect with this reporter:Charles Runnells (Facebook),@charlesrunnells (Twitter),@crunnells1 (Instagram), 'Queen of Swing' Norma Miller: Funeral, celebration of life announced for Fort Myers, New York City, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. She traveled widely to appear at swing and jazz festivals and give talks on her dancing days. She directed and toured with the Norma Miller Dancers and Norma Miller and Her Jazzmen from 1952 to 1968. With her own black companies, the Norma Miller Dancers and Norma Miller and Her Jazzmen, she joined early fights to undermine segregation in the nightclubs and casinos of Miami Beach and Las Vegas, where black entertainers even stars like Nat King Cole and Sammy Davis Jr. drew big crowds but afterward had to leave through the kitchen and stay in segregated accommodations. See production, box office & company info, Stage 4, Stage 1, NBC Studios - 3000 W. Alameda Avenue, Burbank, California, USA. [3][1], He just threw me up; my feet never touched the ground. cemeteries found in Bronx, Bronx County, New York, USA will be saved to your photo volunteer list. Contribute to chinapedia/wikipedia.en development by creating an account on GitHub. [1] Miller would dance at the Renaissance Ballroom & Casino, where young people were allowed to dance on Sunday afternoons. Try again later. [7], In 1943, she took dance classes on the style of Martha Graham taught by Sophie Maslow, the style of Hanya Holm taught by Mary Anthony, and classes by Doris Humphrey and Charles Weidman. Ms. Miller lived in Las Vegas for much of the 1960s and 70s. By Nicole Acevedo. In 2003, she was honored with the National Heritage Foundation Fellowship from the National Endowments of the Arts for her outstanding role in creating and preserving the acrobatic style swing dance Lindy Hop. She is an author, choreographer, dancer, comedian and actor whose career spans over seven decades. Unfortunately, she is the only living member of that team. Gregory Sierra, who had memorable roles in the 1970s sitcoms "Barney Miller" and "Sanford and Son," has died after battling cancer. Queen of Swing Please try again later. [5], From February 1972 until 1974, Miller traveled around Vietnam, performing her solo comedy routine for American troops in the Vietnam War. Sparkle Doreen. Copyright, 1995, 1996, 1997 for savoystyle.com. Norma Miller. Good friends with Redd Foxx, she appeared on Sanford and Son. Miller remained active, recently performing with an Italian swing band. In Ken Burns documentary Jazz (2001), her recollections provide a first hand account of the Harlem music and dance scene in the 1930s and 40s. In 1957, the Norma Miller Dancers played long-running engagements in Miami Beach and Las Vegas as part of an extravagant production called The Cotton Club Revue. The show, starring Cab Calloway and a 48-member all-black cast, drew huge nightly audiences for months. You are nearing the transfer limit for memorials managed by Find a Grave. 1. "Fred Sanford: I still want to sow some wild oats. Miller died this week at the age of 99, according to Harrison Smith of the Washington Post; to the end, she was known as the "Queen of Swing.". She agreed, and at 15 came under the tutelage of Mr. Whites choreographer, Frankie Manning, the master of swing-era dances, who was the inspirational coach of the Lindy Hoppers. She was discovered on Easter Sunday 1932 by the great swing dancer Twist Mouth George Ganaway as she flashed her moves on the sidewalk outside the Savoy, a blocklong rhythm factory on Lenox Avenue between West 140th and 141st Streets. With Redd Foxx, Demond Wilson, Whitman Mayo, Norma Miller. Learn about how to make the most of a memorial. [3] In Miami, Miller suffered from racism in renting housing, and was forced to ride in the back of buses and dine in black eateries. Sierra's breakthrough came in 1972 when he played the role of Fred G. Sanford's neighbor, Julio Fuentes, on . Close . It was based on the British sitcom Steptoe and Son, which initially aired on BBC One in the United Kingdom from 1962 to 1974.. There is 1 volunteer for this cemetery. But after 1929, when the Millers moved into a tenement apartment on West 140th Street, music from the Savoy boomed nightly through their back windows. The gravel-voiced widower hurled outrageous one-liners at . Quickly see who the memorial is for and when they lived and died and where they are buried. Vote up your favorite episodes . Norma Miller: The Queen of Swing . She was the last surviving original member of the all-black dance troupe. The former Lindy Hopper was 99. Later, they won a Lindy Hop contest at the Savoy. For memorials with more than one photo, additional photos will appear here or on the photos tab. ABC/Sun-Time File. You may not upload any more photos to this memorial, This photo was not uploaded because this memorial already has 20 photos, This photo was not uploaded because you have already uploaded 5 photos to this memorial, This photo was not uploaded because this memorial already has 30 photos, This photo was not uploaded because you have already uploaded 15 photos to this memorial. Please complete the captcha to let us know you are a real person. When she was 12, she was "discovered" dancing outside the Savoy, and in 1934 was invited to join Whitey's Lindy Hoppers, soon to make an extended tour of Europe. Sanford and Son cast list, including photos of the actors when available. [1][3], In 1959, Miller moved to Las Vegas, where she lived for much of the 1960s and 1970s. Miller presented and taught workshops at Herrng Dance Camp until 2018, when she was 98.[7]. They put off marriage plans many times and decided to separate in 1947. "The NEA's National Heritage Award is a great honor," says Ms. Miller. However, only Frankie Manning has been given credit as a dance consultant. See the Best Discount Girls Prescription Fisher-Price in the 2023 collection online. As manager of this memorial you can add or update the memorial using the Edit button below. Norma Miller as Grady's girlfriend Dolly on 1974 episode of Sanford and Son, tilted Grady and His Lady, directed by Stan Lathan (Sanaa Lathan's father). #NormaMiller was one of the greatest dancers in jazz history, a pioneer of the Lindy Hop style, and a tireless advocate for jazz and dance. Jazz at Lincoln Center on Twitter. Apparently he had ways of averting the authorities that enforced the laws about minors. In September 2018, a second printing of the new edition of the book was issued with new pictures, notes and a last chapter about Miller's last four years of living in Italy. The Lindy Hop sequence earned an Academy Award nomination for the choreographer, Dave Gould. Enjoy FREE Shipping and Easy Returns on Eyewear at Go-Optic.com. Norma Miller's future projects will also be drawn from her swing dance experiences and, as she likes to say: "If you don't dig swing - you don't dig fried chicken!" . General [5], Miller wrote or played a major role in several books, including:[1]. About swing dancing she said: Its the greatest means of people communicating. A 72 minute documentary, Queen of Swing, by Florida filmmaker John Biffar, takes an inside look at Norma . In 1982, she moved back to New York and in 1990, she moved back to Las Vegas. She did comedy routines in clubs with Redd Foxx and taught childrens dance classes. We have set your language to 'Queen of Swing' Norma Miller dies at her Fort Myers home. To fund the classes, she began working as a producer for Smalls Paradise, a nightclub in Harlem. Gregory Sierra, the actor best known for his roles in Sanford and Son and Barney Miller, has died. Ms. Miller, who never married and left no immediate survivors, had a long-term relationship with her fellow Hellzapoppin performer Roy Glenn, who died in 1971. Norma Miller and Billy Ricker, of Norma Millers Dancers, in a publicity photo taken in about 1940. She was not quite 18 when she met the Marx Brothers, Allan Jones and Maureen OSullivan on the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer lot and made her film debut in A Day at the Races. She danced and sang with the Lindy Hoppers in the well-known black-cast number All Gods Chillun Got Rhythm, which featured the singer Ivie Anderson and Duke Ellingtons orchestra. In the movies, she danced and sang in memorable black-cast numbers in the Marx Brothers A Day at the Races (1937) and in the madcap Olsen and Johnson comedy Hellzapoppin (1941). After her meteoric Lindy Hop career, Ms. Miller reinvented herself in 1952. We were to be the first all-black show to play the Beachcomber in Miami Beach, Ms. Miller recalled in Swingin at the Savoy: The Memoir of a Jazz Dancer (1996, with Evette Jensen). "I danced with the world's greatest dancer," Miller told The News-Press in 2005 as she sat in Biffars living room. In December 2016, the CD A Swingin' Love Fest with Norma Miller is issued with the Orchestra. She grew up in Harlem near the legendary Savoy Ballroom, watching the dancers. A child of poverty whose father died before she was born, Ms. Miller lived with her mother and sister in a cramped, noisy Harlem apartment, whose back windows looked out on the ballroom that would be her steppingstone to stardom. She had roles in three of Mr. Foxx's NBC sitcoms: "Sanford and Son . You had laundry. ", Ella Fitzgerald: Just One Of Those Things. [8][9][1] When they returned from filming, the group went to Rio de Janeiro to perform. As her talents grew, she was enrolled at the Manhattan School of the Arts on the Upper West Side. NEW YORK Gregory Sierra, who had memorable roles in the 1970s sitcoms "Barney Miller" and "Sanford and Son," has died after battling cancer. In the later fifties she formed Norma Millers Jazz Men, which included fellow Lindy Hopper Billy Ricker, Frankie Mannings son the tap dancer Chazz Young, Billy Dotson, Stoney Montenez and Raymond (?). Learn more about managing a memorial . Grady and His Lady: Directed by Stan Lathan. Lamont discovers that the porcelain figure he bought is worth a great deal of money. I was too young to go inside the Savoy. Fred needs a drink after she thanks him for taking care of Grady at nights. Try again later. Gregory Sierra . In addition to a rich and long career as a dancer, Miller has become a . Ms. Miller and the Lindy Hoppers were showcased in the hit Broadway musical revue Hellzapoppin in 1938 and in 1941 appeared in the Hollywood version, both of which starred Ole Olsen, Chic Johnson and Martha Raye. Her longtime manager and caretaker, John Biffar, announced her death. Are you sure that you want to delete this photo? Apart from that, she has appeared in several other documentaries, being Moms Mabley: I Got Somethin' to Tell You, Unsung Hollywood: Redd Foxx, and Unsung Hollywood: Eartha Kitt the most recent ones. Resend Activation Email. Norma Miller is one of the creators of the acrobatic style of swing dancing known as the Lindy Hop. Cranky, scheming Fred Sanford runs a Los Angeles junkyard with his son and business partner Lamont. She and her friends practiced the dances in the gym at her school, P.S. She was 12 when legendary dancer Twist Mouth George saw her and asked her to dance with him inside the Savoy. In 1937 she made her film debut in MGMs A Day at the Races where she danced and sang the number All Gods Chillun Got Rhythm which featured singer Ivie Anderson and Duke Ellingtons orchestra. Miller sang, danced, acted, and performed comedy at various nightclubs. Gregory also guest-starred in an . Wayne Shorter (19332023), jazz saxophonist who co-founded Weather Irma Serrano (19332023), Mexicos La Tigresa singer and Linda Kasabian (19492023), key witness against Manson Family, Jerry Richardson (19362023), Carolina Panthers founder, Wayne Shorter (19332023), jazz saxophonist who co-founded Weather Report, Irma Serrano (19332023), Mexicos La Tigresa singer and actress, Simone Segouin (19252023), heroine of the French Resistance. Now, I didnt qualify for any of those. You can always change this later in your Account settings. Photos larger than 8Mb will be reduced. A CD with six more songs of Miller is to be produced in 2021 with the Billy Bros. African American dancer and choreographer, Creative Forces: NEA Military Healing Arts Network, Independent Film & Media Arts Field-Building Initiative, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), National Endowment for the Arts on COVID-19. Ms. Miller in 2018. Sanford and Son, serving as a stand up comic, actor and choreographer. Actress: Malcolm X. Norma Miller and Frankie Manning were both consultants on the Lindy Hop dance scene at the Roseland Ballroom. "Norma Miller, Lindy-Hopping 'Queen of Swing,' Is Dead at 99", "The Queen Of Swing Takes Old Age In Stride", "Norma Miller is still 'Alive and Kicking' and the focus of a new documentary", "Norma Miller, Lindy Hop dancer known as the 'Queen of Swing,' dies at 99", "From Harlem to Herrang: An Original Lindy Hopper Blooms in Sweden", "At 95 Years Old, Norma Miller, the Queen of Swing, Still Reigns", "Norma Miller: African American dancer and choreographer", "A Swingin' Love Fest: Billy Bros. and Norma Miller", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Norma_Miller&oldid=1140748141, Burials at Woodlawn Cemetery (Bronx, New York), 20th-century African-American women singers, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Dancer, choreographer, comedian, author, actress, singer, songwriter, creative director, This page was last edited on 21 February 2023, at 15:50. She died at the age of 99 from congestive heart failure. . AmoMama creates engaging, meaningful content for women. Norma Miller was a dancer, singer, and actress known as the "Queen of Swing." As a member of the Lindy Hoppers, she popularized swing dancing in the 1930s and 40s. Which memorial do you think is a duplicate of Norma Miller (198887300)? You better learn to talk. Actor Gregory Sierra, who starred in 1970s shows "Barney Miller" and "Sanford and Son," died Jan. 4 in Laguna Woods, California, according to Orange County . She wrote her autobiography Swingin at the Savoy: The Memoir of a Jazz Dancer and co-authored The Redd Foxx Encylopedia of Black Humor with Redd Foxx. No animated GIFs, photos with additional graphics (borders, embellishments. Oops, something didn't work. I interviewed her for my blog a couple of years ago. The sponsor of a memorial may add an additional. Please enter your email address and we will send you an email with a reset password code. On the horizon were professional friendships with Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Artie Shaw and other musical legends. Use Escape keyboard button or the Close button to close the carousel. Dancer, Actress, Comedian, and Author. Share this memorial using social media sites or email. As a child, she watched the dancers at the legendary Savoy Ballroom perched on the fire escape outside her mother's Harlem apartment. This list includes all of the Sanford and Son main actors and actresses, so if they are an integral part of the show you'll find them below. It was based on the BBC Television series Steptoe and Son. Each Member's genealogy is stored in a separate tree. Stompin at the Savoy with Alan B Govenar. She appeared in six films (19371995), including Malcolm X (1992); guest starred in six television shows (19401992), which included four episodes of Sanford and Son and Stompin at the Savoy (1992); and appeared in eleven documentaries (19892016), including Jazz by Ken Burns (2000), Queen of Swing (2006), and Alive and Kicking (2016). Norma Miller as "Dolly," "Grady's" girlfriend on "Sanford and Son". I brought him and Norma Miller on as a consultant so that the larger world would know and revere them. You are only allowed to leave one flower per day for any given memorial. Fred schemes to break up Grady's new romance with a homely woman. I studied for a month with Frankie Manning so that the work in this film would be accurate. He was 83. Not long after that, Whitey was watching some of his dancers in a contest at the Apollo and once again saw young Norma defeat his dancers. You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other In 2018, Ms. Miller appeared at the Herrang Dance Camp in Sweden, an annual gathering since the 1980s of Lindy Hop lovers from around the world. About 1,000 dancers from all over the world are expected to attend. A 72 minute documentary, Queen of Swing, by Florida filmmaker John Biffar, takes an inside look at Norma Millers influence in the globalization of Americas jazz culture and her and her fellow artists role in racial integration; and features interviews with Bill Cosby and the late Leonard Reed. Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom) Search This Blog. Her dancing skills were so impressive that she is known as the Queen of Swing. [6] Ganaway gave Miller a Coca-Cola and asked her to dance in the ballroom for the first time, before Miller was escorted back outside. . It too was a great show with more unsung heros of comic genuis, novelty acts and unsurpassed showbiz veterans. Details of death:Died at the age of 99 from heart failure at her home in Fort Myers, Florida. Please reset your password. [3], On May 5, 2019, Miller died from congestive heart failure at the age of 99. To amend the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 and title 5, United States Code, to permit leave to care for a domestic partner, parent-in-law, or adult child, or another related individual, who has a serious health condition, and to allow employees to take, as additional leave, parental involvement and family wellness leave to participate in or attend their children's and grandchildren . Family members linked to this person will appear here. Gregory Sierra (January 25, 1937 - January 4, 2021) played the role of Julio Fuentes, a Puerto-Rican junk dealer from New York City who moves next door to the Sanfords, arousing the ire of Fred. She turned 96 this year (2016) and I'm sure we all hope that we can be like her when we grow up, should we be so fortunate. In 1942, Ms. Miller made her last tour with the Lindy Hoppers, appearing in New York, Washington and Baltimore. [3], Whitey's Lindy Hoppers performed in the 1941 movie Hellzapoppin', where Miller had a memorable role as a dancing cook, executing breathtaking flips, slides, kicks, splits, and lifts. [4] From her fire escape, she would watch the dancers perform the Black Bottom, the Shimmy, the Charleston and the Shim Sham. Frankie Manning Walking Tour Woodlawn Cemetery, Bob Crease Profiles of Whiteys Lindy Hoppers, Lindy Hoppers of the African DiasporaFund. The day of our big dress rehearsal, there were headlines in The Miami Sun telling Murray Weinger a Miami Beach nightclub owner that they didnt want his colored show on the beach.. Demond Wilson, who played Lamont Sanford, was born on October 13th in 1946, and is currently 75 years old. This content was originally written by Judy Pritchett with Frankie Manning. Previously sponsored memorials or famous memorials will not have this option. The next day, Herbert "Whitey" White, the dance master at the Savoy, hired Miller as the youngest member of his dance troupe, Whitey's Lindy Hoppers. "It has put me on track to become a film producer and I intend this one should be just the first of many." As a member of the . She was a teenager when she was picked to be one of the Lindy Hoppers, an all-black professional swing dancing group that toured all over the world. Norma Miller, who danced the Lindy Hop on Harlem sidewalks as a child, and as a teenager dazzled crowds on international tours in the 1930s and early 40s doing the same kicks, spins and drops that had made it a Jazz Age jitterbug craze, died on Sunday at her home in Fort Myers, Fla. She was 99. One look at her and Sanford and Son have to excuse themselves to laugh at Grady's choice of fiance. Lamont unintentionally provides the inspiration for Fred's attempt to stop his best friend from getting married by playing Lothario for Dolly. 0 HEAD 1 SOUR PAF 2 NAME Personal Ancestral File 2 VERS 4.0.4.18 2 CORP The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 3 ADDR 50 East North Temple Street 4 CONT Salt Lake City, U Your new password must contain one or more uppercase and lowercase letters, and one or more numbers or special characters. Norma Miller, Lindy-Hopping Queen of Swing, Is Dead at 99, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/06/obituaries/norma-miller-dead.html. Today she teaches swing dance, including master classes at Stanford University and the University of Hawaii, and has choreographed dance scenes in Spike Lee's Malcolm X and Debbie Allen's Stompin' at the Savoy. Miguel "Chano" Amanguale on the ABC police series "Barney Miller" and as Julio Fuentes on the NBC . Thats it! added the Queen of Swing. Between 1956 and 1956, she lived in Miami and performed comedy shows with Cab Calloway and George Kirby, produced by Mervyn Nelson. Now, I didn't qualify for none of those. Gregory Sierra, best known for his roles as Sgt. GREAT NEWS! Resend Activation Email, Please check the I'm not a robot checkbox, If you want to be a Photo Volunteer you must enter a ZIP Code or select your location on the map. Miller turned to comedy at the advice of Foxx, who told her: Look, you're not going to be able to dance any longer. Crossed Swords. This is the home page for the family trees of WMGS Members. Welcome to the Sitcoms Online Message Boards - Forums. From inside the Savoy, a swing bands hard-driving sound beat its way to the sidewalk, and there she and Mr. Ganaway danced. People were screaming and he put me on top of his shoulders, walked me around the ballroom . He serves hors d'oeuvres, but that's not how he pronounces it: "horse divers!" You had hairdresser. A lifelong close friend of Frankie Manning, Norma danced with him in Spike Lees feature film, Malcolm X and in Debbie Allens TV Film Stomping at the Savoy, which she choreographed with Manning as her assistant. She was 99. The show inspired several spin-offs including Sanford Arms, Grady, and Sanford. [11], For several years in the mid- to late 2010s, Miller lived in both Fort Myers, Florida and Italy. Spooked by his girlfriend's marriage ideas, Lamont uses Grady as the reason he can't tie the knot. After watching her win the Harvest Moon Ball dance contest at the Apollo Theater in 1934, Herbert White invited her to join his new troupe, the Lindy Hoppers. Norma Miller was the youngest of Whiteys Lindy Hoppers when she joined the group. Biffar says Miller was better known in Europe than in the United States. She was hired by the dance master at the Savoy and became a member of Whiteys Lindy Hoppers. [3] She would practice dancing in her living room and her school gymnasium. Remove advertising from a memorial by sponsoring it for just $5. The first time Whitey saw her she appeared out of nowhere on the dance floor and won a Savoy dance contest with Twistmouth George as her partner. Mr. Ganaway was impressed. William first visited the Regos with father, mother and sisters when. Norma Adele Miller (December 2, 1919 May 5, 2019) was an American Lindy hop dancer, choreographer, actress, author, and comedian known as the "Queen of Swing".[1]. Failed to remove flower. NEW YORK (AP) Gregory Sierra, who had memorable roles in the 1970s sitcoms "Barney Miller" and "Sanford and Son," has died after battling cancer. Grady ends up ignoring an evening of roller derby, the Tulsa Titwillows against the San Diego Sapsuckers! Norma Jean Brown Norma Jean Brown, 80, of Sanford, NC passed away Sunday March 3, 2019 at her residence.<br/><br/>She was born December 22, 1938 in Chatham County, NC to the late Cleo and William Maness.<br/><br/>Norma worked on the assembly line for GKN in Sanford for several years. ", Miller later worked as a choreographer, comedian, actor, author and a performer at various nightclubs, opening for big names such as Redd Foxx and Sammy Davis Jr. She did a little of everything: dancing, singing, comedy. Labels: 1974, norma miller, Redd Foxx, sanford and son, sitcom. I wasn't supposed to be there.". based on information from your browser. See All Credits. Here are some ways. . Weve updated the security on the site. Include gps location with grave photos where possible. Dedicated daily to memorializing notable personalities. HARRISON, Norma Jean, May - Dec, 1951 (Died Dec 19, 1951 - Age 6 mos) . Ms. Miller has also been the subject of many documentaries including National Geographics Jitterbug (1991) and the Smithsonian Jazz series on NPR. Norma Miller, best known as Dolly from Sanford and Son, is 99 years old already but looks a lot younger than that. She is an actress, known for Malcolm X (1992), Sparkle (1976) and Frankie Manning: Ambassador of the Lindy Hop (2010). Miller was born in Manhattan in 1919, to parents . For a second time, the group competed in the Harvest Moon Ball, hosted that year by Ed Sullivan. Demond Wilson As Lamont Sanford. Ms. Miller performing with her dance troupe in the New York City Tap Extravaganza in 2004 at the Haft Auditorium at the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan. . As a comedienne, Norma worked in Las Vegas with Redd Foxx for over 10 years, including appearances in his TV show, Sanford and Son where she is remembered as the airline stewardess who offered "Coffee, tea or ME?" In the seventies she formed another Lindy Hop and jazz performance group, the Savoy Swingers. Heres how Biffar describes her now: Indomitable spirit. I'm just healing now, and it's 70 years later. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. GitHub export from English Wikipedia. Shed hoped to make it to 100, but it just wasnt mean to be, says Biffar, a Cape Coral filmographer who reintroduced Miller to the world with his 2005 documentary Queen of Swing. She was still active up to the very last minute., More:'Queen of Swing' Norma Miller: Funeral, celebration of life announced for Fort Myers, New York City. and put me back outside. Happy Birthday, Pop. Otis Sallid/choreographer said "Just for the record. Sierra died from cancer on Jan. 4 in Laguna Woods, California . At the age of . Is there someone you miss whose memory should be honored? She founded and choreographed the Norma Miller Dancers, a jazz-dance troupe that toured America and Australia for two years, then joined Count Basie on a national tour. English Norma Miller was first discovered as a gifted young Lindy Hopper by Herbert Whitey White when she was just 14 years old. Its hard dancing. Translation on Find a Grave is an ongoing project. Failed to report flower. "And I couldn't tell nobody. [3], From 1952 to 1968, Miller directed and toured with the Norma Miller Dancers and Norma Miller and Her Jazzmen, both of which included Frankie Manning's son Chazz Young as well as her long-time partner Billy Ricker. Are you sure that you want to delete this memorial? She toured Canada and the United States and lived in Los Angeles before returning to New York in 1946. With the war on, the Lindy Hop began to fade as musical tastes changed.